[DS] Nintendo DS/Lite discussion thread

Alright, here we go again. We are already aware of the Nintendo DS, but here's a generic DS picture for the record:

Stock:



Live:





There's been pictures of the DS Lite been released while gff was down, so here's some of them.

Stock footage:






Real-Life Shots:






Variations:



DS Lite specifications:

• Improved smaller and lighter version of the Nintendo DS™
• Weights just 218g instead of 275g and measures 133mm x 73.9mm x 21.5mm
• Screen backlight adjustable
• Portable gaming console w/ 2 LCD screens
• ARM9 67 Mhz Main CPU
• 120K Polygons/sec
• 30M/s pixel fillrate
• 4 Mbytes RAM
• ARM7 16.8 Mhz Secondary CPU
• 2-D: 4 backgrounds, 128 sprites
• GBA backwards compatible
• Wireless multiplayer for up to 16 players
• Game stored on rewriteable media up to 1GB

The DS Lite will be available directly from Nintendo, or from imports sites such as play-asia and lik-sang on March the 11th of this year. There's been no date set for an american release of the Lite, but it's highly likely it will branch out of japan.

Is it just me, or is the white DS Lite going to get REALLY dirty REALLY fast? The live pictures of the DS Lite are ones of the prototype, but not a mockup. I'll probably pick up an Ice Blue(though really, it's teal, don't kid yourself) when they're released in america. Although they look like Apple products, the buttons are spaced better than the original DS and I'm sold on that.

Will you be buying one? What color? When? Discuss.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Metal Sphere

My god that's beautiful. It looks like somebody's done fanart of it in their spare time. I pray to god they don't butcher the english release of this.

More importantly, wow. DS Lite appears to be brighter than the DS. Not sure if that's a good thing, seeing as how the original Nintendo DS is quite bright already in a darkened room.

I'll definitely be picking one of these up if they're released outside of japan, but I'm not too sure of the durability of these things. In the first picture that Metal Sphere listed, the top shell of the DS Lite looks as if it has a fingerprint on it. If it's the slippery iPod feel then I don't know - my 20 GB iPod already has a few fine scratches on it after a year of barely using it, I'd hate to have a scratched DS Lite.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Neogin

Lucky for me, I have the Best Buy replacement deal. I'm able to return my old DS, for a new one that has "Nintendo DS" in its name. Hopefully it includes the Lite. Anyway, I'm hoping to get the DS Lite. It looks awesome.

That's like buying a GBA and trying to return it just to get yourself an SP.

Trust me on this one, it doesn't work. For one, they look different. For two, they're different products. And for three, nobody's blind enough to not know the difference between a DS Lite and an original DS. Store computers will have them labelled as Nintendo DS and DS Lite, so even the most ignorant of workers should be able to understand that they're different.

In New Zealand we have a pretty ignorant store chain here which I'll leave unnamed, but they're well aware that something that looks different can't be the same. I suggest you just attempt to get a refund and hold off. We don't even know if it's coming out of japan yet.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Max brightness is still way too bright, I probably wouldn't use it as most of my DS time stays inside my room.

I wouldn't be at all surprised that leaving the brightness at maximum will damage your eyes and drain the battery faster. It just isn't necessary.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I was just playing my Nintendo DS with my blinds open, and I couldn't really see it.

I think the brightness is going to be for the better, whether it be level 2 or 3. Then again, how many times are you going to be playing your DS during the day, outside, in the car, etc? Depending on who you are, I guess. I know I usually don't take mine outside of my room, but there has been a couple of trips where I've taken it in the car, and a slightly brighter level would be nice.

Playing in a car kind of made me sick though.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Acro-nym

Why is is companies seem to think that that smaller is better? The DS is fine like it is. The GBA was fine like it was. Why do we need a DS-Lite and a GBA Mini?

It's just like cellphones. They're microscophic and also the reason why I don't own one, but the "small" fad is catching on very quickly. Why? Because it's portable, fits in your pocket, and does what it's meant to.

Mind you, I didn't mind when the SP was released. Bigger screen which folded to prevent scratches, backlighting, basically everything the original GBA should of had, but didn't. The GBA Mini is just a fashion statement, but in the DS Lite's case I don't think labelling it as one would be appropriate.

Then again, keeping your DS in your back pocket, regardless of whether it's a Lite or regular DS, is incredibly stupid and you're just asking for it to get damaged.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Akai-chan

Not to mention the new stylus is pretty nice-looking... =D

I think by the pictures of the DS Lite's stylus I can pretty much say that it's longer than the original DS stylus. I can't play any DS game with the original stylus, I was forced to buy some chinese brand which expands. They're excellent, so having the same sized stylus in the Lite as what they had for the original DS would be idiotic.

I'm still considering buying one. I mean, it's slightly smaller, right. It has a longer stylus, right. The screen is a little bigger, and the buttons are spaced a little more apart from eachother. Okay? It's a slightly upgraded DS, but that's really it. The brightness side of things is a nice feature, but apart from that I haven't seen much in the department of new additions.

FELIPE NO

Hey what's going in my - oh god my thread ;_;

Those screenshots are a bit odd. I mean, when I'm playing my DS it doesn't look that dark. But that's just.. such a bright Ouendan. Still, I cannot honestly say that it's worth purchasing for backlighting alone, when you must consider that backlighting on the DS is already there(unlike the GBA SP situation) so I don't know.

Perhaps when the price comes down.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Merv Burger

O RLY?

Then why is it that I go "Yeah, I don't think this is good." or "That's really fucking stupid, gg nintendo" I get someone jumping down my throat about it. "YOU DON'T KNOW DON'T JUDGE ASSHOLE STOP TROLLING"

I just assume tht there's an unwritten rule that you can't say anything bad about Nintendo here.

Even with gff being down for half a month, some things never change.



Is it just me, or do I see scanlines on the DS Lite? Whatever it is, it's ugly. I'd expect to see that on plain backgrounds like the DS menu screen, or a title screen like Sonic Rush has. It's either that, or it's only shown when you're playing the DS Lite on a certain angle, but I don't remember ever seeing my original DS with something like this.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

TALK ABOUT THE FUCKING HANDHELDS.

Not argue or shut people down, talk.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Grubdog, will you give it a rest already. I mean, now all we need is RABicle to join the thread, and Infernal to post a picture of a dancing cat and we will have accurately created the DS thread prior to gff's downtime.

Originally Posted by Grubdog

Only somewhat related, but my DS has some sort of visible grid when you look at it on a certain angle, only on the bottom screen though. Anyone else know what i'm talking about, and is this visible on the DS Lite?

When I returned my original DS and got another one, I noticed the touchscreen has these little dots spaced out everywhere. According to Merv, it's normal and not a problem, so I'm not really worried too much about it.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

So far, the DS Lite offers the following:

- Brightness adjustments
- Bigger buttons, spaced
- Bigger screens
- Bigger and more thicker dpad
- Smaller unit
- 3 BRAND SPANKING NEW IMPRESS-YOUR-FRIEND COLORS.

Annnnnnnnd that's it, really. I saw a picture over at 4chan about the Lite, and according to somebody who purchased one, the GBA cartridge sticks out of the DS Lite, making it obvious. Oh well, good thing I have the original chunky DS so I can enjoy my perfectly fitted GBA cartridges and arthritis at the same time.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Grubdog

Bigger screens? I wasn't aware of that.

Well now you are! You can just tell by lookin at the touchscreen that it's bigger.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by surasshu

Screen protectors can be nice (certainly beats buying a new DS after you fucked up your screen I'd say), but I've heard it's a bitch to put them on the screen without making air bubbles.

You heard correct. I ended up sticking on a screen protector with the original DS which I purchased in january, and I had this gigantic ugly brown air bubble at the bottom left of the screen. I was so pissed off that I returned my DS for another one.

I don't use a screen protector on my current one, and I've been playing Ouendan on it. There's a few vague scratches, but you can't see them directly and they really aren't visible while you're playing games. If only they bothered to make the touchscreen durability on CD's and stuff which is prone to scratching.

On the plus side, this is good. Since the DS Lite will have different levels of brightness, this means that scratches will be even harder to see. I don't think screen protectors are worth it, in fact I'd be willing to say that they're a bit risky.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

The DS has less protection than a rapist.

Sorry, bad example. Handhelds usually don't have region restrictions though.

FELIPE NO

Can someone recommend a game that's high in the replayability and/or length department? GBA games are fine too. I'm currently looking at:

Tetris DS
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Gunstar Super Heroes
Densetsu no Stafi 4 (Legend of Stafi 4)
Jump! Superstars

I've purchased Astro Boy: Omega Factor and it should arrive in about a week and a half. I'd like something alone those lines, regardless whether it's DS or not. Stafi 4 is something probably nobody knows, so here's a clue. Jump! Superstars looks pretty neat, but I'm afraid I lack the WiFi knowledge to get it up and running. I also highly doubt somebody from New Zealand playing with japanese people wouldn't lag.

Dawn of Sorrow is what I'm currently looking at. I've completed Aria which was neat, even if I really disliked the bosses. I hear it has a New Game+, as well. But yeah, can't decide.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by AcerBandit

Stafi is something I've been meaning to look into for a while now. If someone had the roms I'd play it even if it's in Japanese. The game just screams to me, a Kirby fan, that it should be played. If I liked it enough I'd import the 4th game for DS.

Their rom numbers are 1143, 1609, and 0579. I'm horrible at finding rom sites but I know for a fact that #roms-isos on efnet would more than likely have them. It plays alot like Kirby, but it's more of a "Friend has a problem, find item for friend, friend gives you ability, find more friends with problems, find more items for friends, friends friends friends" thing. But yeah, I stayed up all night the other day playing the original(0579) and I really enjoyed it.

It is a bit "for kids" ubt that really doesn't matter. I'd classify it to be on the same level as Kirby. The japanese is irrelevant, even though you talk to people. There's maybe 5-10 pages of japanese, but it's much like Ouendan - you can see the plot without text.

Originally Posted by AcerBandit

I don't know who told you Jump! Superstars used the Nintendo Wifi Connection but they're wrong. Only regular wifi between DS in the same room for that game. You must be thinking of Bleach DS which is the only fighting game for DS in Japan that I can think of that takes advantage of the NWC. And basically just like normal NWC you just have to be able to connect your DS to the Internet via wireless router or USB dongle to play it. There of course might be some lag since you're connecting to Japanese servers but then again there might not. The idea of NWC is that it's worldwide. I don't know if they have it all set up in one place or not over at Gamespy.

Well, what's Jump! Superstars like without multiplayer? Nobody I know around here has a DS and even so, they would definitely not have this game - so I believe multiplayer is out of the picture. I've seen some videos of it on youtube and it looks really neat, even though it's basically a cluster of anime gimmicks.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm not interested in Bleach DS at all. I don't like anime much. Especially Naturo/Bleach and all that rubbish. Jump interests me for the SSBM style, and for a few characters.

If I wanted a Treasure title, I would purchase the recently released Treasure Box, with Alien Solider/Dynamite Headdy/Gunstar Heroes, but I'm on a tight budget so that's out of the picture for now.

A new game has appeared. Purchase? Seiken Densetsu: Children of Mana, $20 from play-asia. 5 days until the special ends. I'd rather not buy a japanese RPG, as they're quite lengthy and in japanese, but according to a portion of sites; it's rather import friendly. There's videos on youtube, too. It's only $20, and there isn't even a release date set for america.

The question here would be, should I bother with it? I'm pretty pissed at japanese games which are heavy on the text side, since Sakura Taisen 3 was never released outside of asia(and that was very, extremely holyfuck lengthy in the text department) but I think I can manage here.

I really don't want to fuck this up. Should I go for Children of Mana, or save? Dawn of Sorrow is still looking good. Naturally, if you complete a series title, you're going to want to play other titles from that series. However I still have a burned copy of Symphony of the Night if I'm really desperate.

I'm not too worried about Jump!'s multiplayer side, but it's single player mode looks interesting. Thing is, Jump, Dawn of Sorrow, Stafi 4, and Tetris DS will all set me back roughly $45-60 US, depending. Seiken is only $20, or let's say $26 with postage. Even though it'll take probably over two weeks to get here(and that means, by then I'll probably have enough for Dawn of Sorrow, Jump or Stafi) I'm still quite interested.

So, thoughts?

Bloody hell, I had this entire thing written up before and I magically decided to press the back button. God.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

It's come down to Stafi 4, Dawn of Sorrow, or Seiken Densetsu: Children of Mana. I really don't know which to aim for.

You're right about Jump, after checking around it's mostly a multiplayer game. I probably won't look in to Bleach since I'm not too keen on the Nintendo WiFi scene, they haven't even made hotspots in New Zealand yet.

I'm seriously considering Seiken Densetsu. Here, have a look at these videos and try to tell me it doesn't look interesting. Apparently there's only one town, and it's mostly free-ranged RPG fighting. Looks quite interesting. Although I really dislike the though of owning a japanese RPG due to the language barrier, this doesn't seem to be an obstable.

However I can't say for sure if Dawn of Sorrow or Stafi would be more of a worthy purchase. There's also a higher price for those, too.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The import price for the DS Lite right now is seriously a joke. But as soon as it's announced for outside of japan, I'll be selling my blue DS. The Ice Blue SD Lite looks nice, and now that I've seen some video reviews I'm convinced it's better than the original.

Of course it wouldn't be logical to own both models at once, the larger buttons is what I'm sold on. The current buttons are what is only to be described as "clicky" and that irritates the hell out of me. The brightness is a bonus, as is the battery life.

Speaking of battery life, it's actually better to own a DS Lite if you're looking for value for money. Considering the batteries will last longer in a DS Lite, this means you won't need to have a battery replaced once a year or whenever it dies.

I'm not too thrilled on the price tag, but assuming it's going to be released worldwide, it won't be much of an issue.

Most amazing jew boots

$269 NZD here.

It's not that it isn't worth it, it just isn't worth the price. Original DS units are $190-220 each here, so essentially you're paying approx. $70 more for a little upgrade.

I don't get people. It's a new version. Do you sell and buy a new tv just because Panasonic bring out a larger one? That's like coming out with the PSOne over the original PS1, and everyone going "OH MY GOD, IT'S SMALLER, LOOK AT IT, I MUST HAVE ONE" yet it does the exact same thing.

I look foward to non-clicky buttons though. Fuck that shit is annoying.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by BurningRanger

If the TV had a screen that was orders of magnitudes better, yes people would buy it.

The PSOne did much more than just be a smaller Playstation. For example, you could attach a battery and screen to it for a road trip.

The DS Lite is also more than just a size improvement.

Uh, my point was they both do the same thing.

It's not like you're going to die of cancer if you don't buy the newer version.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Grubdog

A lot of EBs have the policy of only hiring people who aren't knowledgable about videogames.

"Hi uh, what date are you getting DS Lites in?"
"I think it's the 22nd of June, but we're all booked out"
"You mean every DS Lite has been preordered?"
"Yeah and I wouldn't be surprised if all our other stores are booked out too"
"Can you check?"
"No, we're individually owned"
"Then why do you care if your other stores are booked out or not?"
"Just sayin'."

Bastards. It's not even worth $60 more than the original, let alone having the damn expense of finding somebody with them.

FELIPE NO

It's not the same price here, and that's all that matters.

The price of the DS Lite here will be $168 US, and to buy the original here, it's $118 US. You can see why I don't think it's value for money at that price.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

What the fuck, they're out already?

http://www.gamesman.co.nz/product.php?id=6008

IN NEW ZEALAND?

Is this joke. I bet I'll phone them tomorrow and they'll be like "Yeah we have them." "Cool, can you hold me one?" "No ^_^"

I don't even have $270 right now. I'm a nice $170 short at the moment, which I could probably make up for if I sold my current DS, and that's not likely to happen since nobody knowing of the DS Lite will want it. I bet eb games will have a "$10 off with trade-in of original DS" special.

Double Post:
Phoned my local store today. They have plenty, they haven't sold many, and there isn't a huge demand for them. I asked them if I should hold one and they didn't seem too worried, and they told me to come in tomorrow and pick one up then because there'll still be plenty left.

Hmm, that's odd. I thought these would attract mass appeal now that they're out, but the demand and sale rate of them here is quite small. I don't exactly want a bright-as-holy-god white DS Lite, though. Still, it's probably the cheapest way of getting one.

Jam it back in, in the dark.